South African rand rises sharply as charges against finance minister dropped
The South African rand has risen sharply against the dollar on news fraud charges have been dropped against the country's finance minister.
According to various reports, the charges were dropped against Pravin Gordhan just days before he was due to appear in court.
The rand is currently trading at 1 rand to $0.0735, compared with $0.0728 before the news broke. The currency has risen a total of 1.7 per cent against the dollar throughout the day.
In a statement read out to the media, chief prosecutor Shaun Abrahams said his agency was satisfied Gordhan had not intended to act unlawfully.